The Shy is Bold
by LiulfrKeahi
Summary: Sometimes the timid one needs to make a move first, and that's what Ami and Rei plan to do. edited the first chapter.
1. Chapter 1 We Need a Stimulus

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Sailor Moon and its characters. I only own this fanfic and the plot.

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**Chapter 1: We Need a Stimulus**

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Sailor Moon and its characters. I only own this fanfic and the plot.

**Hikawa Shrine, Rei's Room**

It was another typical study session of the five girls. The clock had ticked five, meaning it was over. Everyone was packing, getting ready to leave. Everyone, but Ami.

"Aren't you going to go home, Ami?"

"Um, I was planning to stay for a few minutes to finish on this one question. That is, if that's fine with you, Rei."

"No problem at all."

"Thanks. You go ahead, Makoto."

"Okay, then. See you at school!"

As soon as Makoto and Minako had left, Amy shut her textbook. She sighed.

'And I thought she would insist on staying.'

"Um, Ami?" Rei asked in curiosity.

"I'm sorry for all the commotion I'm making, Rei."

"Huh? No, no, I'm fine with that. It's just, not really that usual to see you lying, Ames," Rei said as she sat across her friend.

"I thought they would take it the wrong way if I frankly said that I needed to talk with you."

Rei slightly tilted her head in amusement. "And what is it that you wanted to talk about?"

Ami took in and let out a huge breath before she said, "Makoto and Minako."

"Um, pardon?"

"Makoto and Minako are what, well, more likely 'who' I wanted to talk about. More specifically, it is the relationships between Mako and me and between you and Mina I'm referring to."

"And that means?"

"Sweet Hermes! I know you like Minako, Rei!"

Rei blushed; my, our sweet shy Ami was bold tonight.

"And," Ami's cheeks grew red as she confessed, "I like Makoto."

Rei smiled when she saw the shy Ami again. No offense to the genius but shyness just happened to become one of her strongest traits. But that's that. Rei's sixth sense bugged her that something more big, not that intense or serious as saving the world, perhaps, but big to her personal life was about to be unraveled by Ami. Just what was it? Curious what the genius had in mind, Rei asked.

"But that's not all, is it? You didn't leave behind just to state the," Rei cleared her throat as she heated up, "crushes we have, right?"

"Well, yes. I was wondering if you'd be interested in the plan I've made."

"Plan?"

"I devised a plan so that we could pair ourselves together."

Rei inwardly wondered. What words did just come out of the oh-so-shy Ami's mouth? Pair ourselves together? My, Rei was seeing a new feature of Ami a lot tonight.

"The only problem to the plan is that," Ami dragged, "we're too shy!"

Rei silently disagreed. 'For the moment, you are nowhere near shy.'

"We're too shy to make the first move and those two are too oblivious to recognize the situation," Ami sighed. Rei thought about what Ami had said. Was she too shy? It's not like she did not try to make the first move. She did in fact, give certain signs to Minako. Well, one part of her had hoped that Minako would catch at least one and make the first move: all of which were failures, by the way. Rei silently groaned as her eyebrow twitched. Fine, she was too shy or too proud to do anything. As for Ami, though she had seen rather bold features of her tonight, Ami is practically the incarnate of the word "shy." Ah, hogwash with all that. Rei mentally disregarded their problems.

"So what is this plan of yours?"

"Are you sure you want to hear it? It's neither much of a good nor a realistic plan I'm afraid."

One cannot truly change one's spots, Rei noted.

"Well, my premonitions and our senshi powers don't really fit the category 'realistic,' but they work out well, don't they? Besides, it is your plan. I don't see the catch in listening to a genius's plan."

"Rei," Ami blushed, "I'm not really a genius. I'm certainly not a genius in love, either."

"You might be this time."

Ami looked up at Rei after her last statement. Amethyst eyes met blue ones. Rei let out a laugh. Catching what Rei had meant, Ami laughed along. The warriors of fire and ice laughed together for some time. Once the two settled, Amy was the first to speak up. She mentioned it. And now is the time she has got to say it, right? Ami gulped, let in a deep breath, and let it out.

"You and I are going to pretend that we are seeing each other as lovers."

"Uh, what?"

"Um, we are going to pretend to be lovers."

Silence.

"Oh, I knew it was a bad idea."

Comeback.

"No, no, no," Rei hurried, "I didn't mean it that way, Ami! I was just surprised, that's all."

"You sure?"

Rei gave a nod.

"Okay, then," Ami continued and told Rei. The plan was simple: they pretend to love each other in order to make the other two jealous.

"It's not bad; it's typical."

"Is it?" Ami blushed.

"But complex at the same time. We're trying to make two people jealous at the same time!"

"Well, yes, of course."

"And I like it."

"Yes, I understand it's not good and," Ami looked up, "What? Really?"

"Really, Ami. But I wonder."

"Wonder?"

"What if those two are oblivious enough to actually think we are crazy for each other and we do end up together?"

"I actually haven't thought of that possibility."

Rei blinked.

"Oh, dear. You're right, Rei. What if that does actually happen? What do we do then?" Ami panicked.

Rei knew she had to do something to soothe Ami, but frankly, she hadn't a clue to what to do. Altogether, Ami was quite "new" tonight, so Rei had no idea how to deal with the current situation. Now that she thought of it, Ami never really panicked. Perhaps in times of the near end of a battle, she would show slight signs of fear, but never of hysterical fear. Ami was the cool type that stayed rational. Panic was more of Usagi's role. Ah. Perhaps then she should react to Ami as she would to Usagi. Rei groaned, 'Oh well, here goes nothing.'

"Ami?"

"I, uh, yes?" Ami's stuttering stopped.

"This is going to hurt."

"What? Ow!"

Rei reacted. And she reacted well: she hit Ami on the head, fooling herself that she hit Usagi and not Ami. Now that Ami feels the pain - Rei couldn't ignore the guilt she felt when she saw Ami's pained face, mind you - Rei spat out whatever advice she had for the both of them.

"Ami, I'm really sorry that it hurt, but at least now you can hear me out."

"I would've done so if you just called my name, Rei. I'm not Usagi."

'So that's what Ami's whining sounds like,' Rei noted to herself.

"Er, sorry again. Anyway, if our plan goes hay wire and those two prove they are a bit thicker than we had hoped," Rei paused for a moment. If Minako really doesn't get the "hint" for the last time, what should she do? The thing she was delaying from the start she knew she liked Minako. That. Rei's eyebrows burrowed. 'I hope neither my pride nor my shyness gets in the way that time,' Rei thought. Rei looked at Ami's curious gaze. She smiled softly, gave out a defeated sigh, and slumped down next to Ami; she had stood up earlier to hit Ami on the head. "Rei?" Ami called. Rei leaned her head on the side of the bed and looked at a particular picture on the wall in front: a picture of her and Minako together.

"We have no choice but to make the first moves, Ames."

Ami didn't reply. Instead, she followed Rei's gaze and looked at the presumably same picture, one of Rei and Minako in it. Each in her school uniform, Minako had hugged Rei for the picture. Ami noticed Rei's expression was slightly off; dare she say embarrassed? 'Yet,' Ami thought, 'she seems happy to be like that.' Ami recalled a picture of her and Makoto that they took on the very same day. Makoto had her arms encircling Ami's neck from behind. Ami remembered how hard she tried not to blush too much and how happy she was to be in that pose. To be that happy, her plan had to work. If not, Ami realized, what Rei had said was true; their last choice was to make a move first. Boldness really is a necessity in love, Ami noted. Ami let out a laugh. Rei tilted her head in question.

"Funny isn't it?" Ami said as she kept laughing, "We faced all sorts of danger from Beryl to Chaos, and yet, we're scared to tell our feelings to our very friends."

Rei thought of it and joined Ami's laughter. "Well, isn't that ironic?"

The warrior of fire and ice laughed a good laugh and spent the next few hours carefully drawing out the plan to win their loves. They didn't go over every single detail, but enough to have a back-up plan for almost every possibility. The result turned out it would take at least four days - if longer, a week - for the plan to succeed. Once finished, Rei couldn't help asking Ami where her ideas came from. Frankly speaking, she was once again awed at the genius's broad range of possible romance scenes.

"Oh, I," Ami blushed, "read a few romance novels these days."

"Are you sure you read only a few?" Rei sniggered.

"Rei!"

Rei's, and soon later Ami's, laughter echoed in the shrine that night.


	2. Chapter 2 Let the Games Begin

**Chapter 2: Day 1. Let the Games Begin**

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Sailor Moon and its characters. I only own this fanfic and the plot.

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Ami sighed for the umpteenth time that day. Today, the girls would meet at the crown as they normally did on Fridays, only she and Rei would be absent. Today was "Day 1" of the plan. In other words, today was the first "pretend" - Ami mentally stressed the word - date with Rei. Now why Ami was sighing? She didn't know what to wear. She wanted to wear something decent enough so others wouldn't notice any difference, but something good enough so others, at least Makoto, would notice a bit. "Oh, why can't fashion be as simple as logic?" Ami groaned. If she had to draw a tree of possibilities, the tree for fashion would have endless branches! Although, that would be an intriguing problem to solve - she can't help loving such mathematical problems - it would do no good for her at the moment. 'Nor do I have the time,' Ami mused.

Ami looked over to her right where her cell phone was currently put. It was bad enough to ask Rei to even join her so-called plan. How could she even possibly call Rei and ask what to wear? Not following her mind, her hands reached out and idly played with the device. She opened it and closed it, repeatedly. She opened it for the eleventh time. Instead of closing it or searching for Rei's number, she opened the picture album within. A small hobby of hers was taking pictures. There were pictures of flowers, animals, sceneries, and of course, her friends. She browsed the photos and found the one she was looking for: one particular shot of Makoto. Makoto had made chocolate chip cookies that day, but they were not just ordinary chocolate chip cookies. No, Makoto had used the chips to make each planet's mark respectively. Ami recalled when Makoto had invited her over and asked if she liked the way the Mercury symbol had turned out. Well, she did ask the same question to everybody else, but... the fact that Makoto had given a bit more concern to hers - Makoto said so herself - was heartwarming.

_**I don't wanna be alone this Christmas.**_

Ami nearly dropped her phone to the floor. Her phone had suddenly turned off. The meeting was only one hour away and it was unlikely that Usagi or anyone else could have canceled or changed plans.

_**Like other lovers in the streets, I wanna whisper to my love to the one.**_

"Rei?" Ami squeaked. 'Why would she be calling?' Ami wondered as she answered the phone.

"Hello, Ami? This isn't a bad time, is it?"

"No, no, not at all. I was just getting ready."

"Ah."

"So," Ami dragged on.

"Ah, well, I, too, was getting ready, but, um... Frankly, I have no idea what to wear."

"Really? That's rather unexpected of you, Rei. I would rank you as the second person who'd always know what to wear."

"And the first would be Minako, I presume?" Rei chuckled.

"That would be correct," Ami giggled back.

"I'm flattered that you thought of me that way, but really, I haven't an idea on what to wear on dates," Rei rambled on, "I guessed something formal to wear would be nice, but I actually don't have many formal clothes to choose from."

Ami sighed. "I've been having the same problem, Rei. All I have are a few dresses but I think they're all too formal for dates."

"I have a few dresses and a tuxedo."

"A tuxedo? Why on earth do you have a tuxedo, Rei?"

"Actually, my grandpa had bought me that."

"Really? Why? Aren't dresses the usual apparel grandparents buy for their granddaughters?"

"Well, yes, but I think he already knew what I felt for Minako."

"What?"

"He has a keen insight he does, that old windbag."

"He is your grandfather, after all," Ami chuckled.

"He is, he is," Rei laughed, "So, since neither of us has a clear idea on what to wear, how about we each ask Makoto and Minako?"

"Oh," said Ami as realization dawned upon her. "Why didn't I think of that before? It is obvious that those two have more experience than we do."

"Exactly! And we could, um, make them, uh... huh, jealous, er... earlier than we planned, right?"

Ami chuckled. Who would ever have thought the great Rei could stutter? And on top of that, all because she was nervous to make her crush jealous! Not that she was in any position to tease - no, never - what was funny was funny. "Yeah, I believe we would get a head start on our plan." Ami suddenly heard Rei groan on the other side. "Rei? Is something the matter?"

"To talk about clothes with that woman..." The rest was a mumble Ami couldn't interpret, but she guessed it had to do something with the several trips to the mall Rei had gone with Minako. 'Now those would be interesting stories,' Ami thought. Speaking of malls, she never really went there with Makoto. Sure, time to time she had gone there with the whole group, but never with Makoto. Alone. Just the two of them. Mercury and Jupiter. "...ko?" Her thoughts skidded to a sudden stop. "Uh, sorry Rei, I didn't get what you just said. I got carried away." She heard Rei snigger.

"Thinking about Makoto, I presume?"

"..."

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When Rei received nothing but silence, she mentally noted that this is the sound of someone blushing. But then again, this was Ami. This might be the sound of someone fainting of embarrassment. 'Now I somewhat understand Minako's love to tease,' Rei thought as she cleared her throat. "Hey, Ames? You still there?" Rei first heard an "eep!", a few stutters, and some rants she just couldn't understand. "Relax Ami, I was just teasing and I had just asked if it were okay to call Minako."

"Oh, oh, we did get a bit carried away, didn't we? I'll see you later."

"Yeah, same here."

Rei hung up and stared blankly at her cell phone. What now? Casually call Minako? Rei scoffed. Her talking - no, asking advice - about clothes to Minako? Yes, totally casual. Bah. Wait. Are those footsteps she hears? The only person who dashes to her room in such a matter was...

"Hey, Rei! You do know it's only like, forty minutes before we meet, right?"

Minako. Why in the world... no, how could she know she was needed? She wasn't the psychic, Rei was! 'Then why am I standing here, wondering why, and staring at her... Sweet Ares, she is beautiful.' Rei let her eyes rake over Minako, starting from the tip of her toes. She was wearing white socks, a light-colored jean skirt - that dare did not cover most of her delicious legs, a white blouse and an orange cardigan. Damn her for being so beautiful. Damn her for being perfect. Damn her for being Aphrodite's reincarnate.

"See something you like?"

Rei's head jerked up. Obviously, she had been caught staring. 'Oh dear me,' Rei thought as Minako walked up to her in a sultry way. Not good, her head tells her; she is supposed to pretend she is dating Ami and here she is caught red-handed for looking at some delicious night snack. To make things worse, she just had to blush. She saw Minako smirk at her. Not a good sign. She had to control herself or else she would ruin the plan even before they executed it. She was a miko for crying out loud! She was and is practicing how to focus and control her thoughts, her feelings, her everything! All she had to do was focus and...

"Stop being ridiculous and give me some privacy so I can change."

Clearly, articulateness was not her strongest suit.

"Aw, come now, Rei, are you being the shy little Martian again?"

And obviously, Minako was not going to let the opportunity to tease to go.

"Shut up and just let me be. My head hurts enough without you annoying me."

"Obviously. I don't see any reason why you would want to wear a red sock with a white one. Not to mention, your clothes are spread all over your room! If it weren't for the traditional door, I would have thought this was actually my room."

Rei looked around. Yes, indeed it would be more arguable to state it as Minako's room than hers. Clothes were thrown away in random directions, layered on top of another. If this were the result of getting prepared for a fake date, well... She didn't even want to imagine what it would be like when - if - she were preparing for a real date with Minako. Rei sighed.

"Something the matter, Rei?"

"Nothing it's just," she paused. It wouldn't hurt to have a head start, would it? Besides, Ami probably had called Makoto. She, Hino Rei, the reincarnate of Ares, should not chicken out even before the actual plan is taken into action.

"Just what?" Minako asked. She wondered what Rei's answer would be.

"I just got nervous for my first date, that's all."

"Your what?"

"My. First. Date." Rei made sure that she emphasized the word "date."

"Oh, so after the meeting, right?"

"Actually, the time overlaps so I won't be able to go."

"Oh."

Rei had a small little hope rising inside her. Usually when someone mentioned something about dates, Minako would be the first to start conversations on it. Yet, here she is, silent as a stone. Perhaps, just perhaps, Minako was jealous. It was most likely she was just jealous of the fact that Rei had a date, but she wished. One small part of her heart hoped of a teeny tiny possibility that Minako was jealous because it was just her, Rei. Bah. Too early for hopes, her rational side reasoned. The only way to find out would be first to get that plan started. And so, Rei asked Minako to help her out on her attire for her date.

'Looks like tonight is going to be the longest Friday night ever.'

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Yay an update. Chapter 3 will be up... before my deathbed I promise.

Oh yeah, and the song of Ami's ringtone is titled "This Christmas" sung by and belongs to JYP Nation (including JYP, Wondergirls, 2AM, 2PM, Lim Jeong Hee, Miss-A, and San-E)

a very nice song to listen to :)


	3. Chapter 3 Not Exactly as Planned

**Chapter 3: Day 1. Not Exactly as Planned**

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Sailor Moon and its characters. I only own this fanfic and the plot.

*AN* Wow, took about three months to update. And this chapter is relatively shorter than the past ones. So sorry, ev'ryone :( I'll be more diligent and prompt on the next.

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"There they are!"

Makoto greeted the fire and love warriors as they came through the doors. Minako had helped out with Rei's attire and a fairly good job she had done she must say. Rei had black high heels, light blue skinny jeans that showed how well toned her legs were, a white t-shirt with a cute kitty drawn, and a not-too-thick black leather jacket. The way she had dressed Rei was casual yet classy for a first date. Now if only Rei wasn't going to this particular date, she herself would've asked Rei out. 'Whoa, wait, now where did that train of thought come from?' she wondered.

"Hey, did you two hear?" Usagi asked, effectively stopping her non-stop swallows of this and that.

"Hear what?"

"Ami's got a date!" Usagi burst out; not to mention, she was jumping up and down on her seat.

"What!" Minako shouted, "and so does Rei!"

"Woah-ha-ho! What? The most uninterested people in our group have dates on the same day?" Makoto noted, or rather, exclaimed.

"Uh..."

Rei fidgeted. Sure, her telling Minako was to get a head start. But now that all three of them - at least Makoto - seemed to have caught onto something, a head start made her feel uneasy. In life, Rei learned two ways when facing difficult situations like now: one was to meet head-on, and the other was to run away. She chose the latter.

"Ah, got to go, guys! I'm late!"

"What!"

"Wait, Rei!"

"Mmm, this milkshake is so delicious!"

Rei ran out of the Crown Arcade, made a beeline to the restaurant, and called Ami. One second, two seconds, three... 'Pick up! Pick up!' she panicked. She dared a glimpse behind her back. No one was following, or at least it seemed so. She slowed down, trying to catch her breath. What a fine day she chose to wear heels. She gritted as the pain came in once the adrenaline began to fade away.

"Ow..."

"Rei? Are you hurt?"

She could swear that she nearly got a heart attack. She had almost forgotten that she had called Ami.

"No, well, yes, but that doesn't matter right now." She scowled, "Where are you right now?"

"I'm on a bus. The Crown Arcade is two stops from now."

"Does the bus go to the restaurant? I'm on my way there and don't ask for now, just go straight there." Rei said as she began running again.

"Um, okay? But do explain what's going on, Rei," Ami said.

"Cross my heart. Just get to our reserved seats quickly. I'm almost there." And she hung up.

* * *

Ami quietly watched her friend gulp down her glass of water. Oh, scratch that. Glasses of water. It looks like she had run all the way from the Crown. 'Good thing the restaurant wasn't that far,' she mused. While Rei was still gulping down, the waiter received her and Rei's order, which Rei just pointed out with her finger. As the waiter took off, Rei finished off with her sixth glass of water and heaved out one long breath. Ami giggled and asked, "Finally caught your breath?" Rei blushed and slightly scratched her right cheek out of embarrassment.

"I, uh... Was I that obvious?"

"Well, a little. You did seem out of breath since the phone call."

"Ah."

Ami gave Rei an expectant look, wanting an explanation of before. Rei blushed and cleared her throat. "Um, well how should I start... When Minako came over, I asked for advice and told her that I have a date. I thought it would be a good idea to have a head start on the jealousy part, but I didn't exactly expect that you would do the same thing." Rei chuckled and slightly scratched her cheek. Ami tilted her head in confusion, thought for a moment, and smiled sheepishly when realization hit.

"The three must've bombarded you with questions to have the great Rei to run off, huh?"

"Well, actually, this time the great Rei pulled a Houdini and evaporated before they could start."

Ami let out a laugh. And Rei, with all her adrenaline gone, relaxed into her seat and laughed along. Not long after the waiter came with their ordered meals.

* * *

Their dinner was surprisingly very comfortable. Rei had assumed a date with a long friend would be somewhat awkward. 'Perhaps it's because this was a fake date. Not a real one in which I'm trying to appeal myself to the other,' Rei mused, 'or maybe it's because it is a date with a friend after all.' Either way, she found herself in a place walking Ami home without the slightest hint of awkwardness.

Ami, too, was thinking along the same lines. Things were going very smooth, contrary to what she had read. Usually, it was awkward to move from the just-friend stage to the date stage. 'Perhaps it is because we are faking it?' Ami noted as they had turned a corner into the small alleyway. While each was too emerged in their own thoughts, neither Ami nor Rei had noticed the small bunch that was silently and quickly advancing towards them.

Rei suddenly tensed at the sudden uneasiness her sixth sense was giving. At instinct she abruptly turned around and scanned the area. "Rei?" Ami asked, "What is it?" Rei didn't answer yet. "I thought I felt..." she trailed on as she slowly eyed the narrow alleyway. Despite the unrelieved restlessness, Rei merely shook her head and forced a smile.

"I thought it was some sort of youma or whatnot, but I think it's just the night and some stray cat."

"You sure?" Ami was unconvinced.

"Yeah, besides even if it were a youma, we could easily transform and kick its butt, right?" Rei joked.

Before Ami could reply though, she bumped into someone. Someone unfamiliar. And someone unfriendly.

"Hey! Watch where you're going!"

"Oh, I'm so sorry. I wasn't looking properly."

"Now that ain't the proper way to apologize, missy."

Apparently that someone had someone else. A lot more, actually. About six boys - presumably college freshmen, Rei noted - surrounded around the two. Rei moved closer to Ami and protectively stood in front of the smaller girl. Sure, Makoto may not have noticed Ami's feelings for her yet. But if their plan goes as planned, she is currently responsible for Makoto's girlfriend-to-be. 'And I probably owe her a few times for protecting my Minako,' Rei thought. She inched herself closer to Ami and whispered, "Get ready to run." Ami shot a confused look, but nodded anyways. Rei closed her eyes, straightened her posture, and let out a breath. Not acknowledging what the girl was planning to do, one of the boys dared to get closer and take hold of her left arm.

At that very moment, Rei shot opened her eyes and gave a straight kick to his abdomen. Without missing a beat, Rei gave another swift kick to the next boy who dared to charge to her. Unfortunately one kick was not enough to bring the boys down, not to mention there were more than two boys. However, her counter did make an opportunity for Ami to run. Ami swiftly ran through the gap Rei had made. Of course, some tried to follow the blue-haired girl, but Rei made sure they didn't; effectively - in this case, in a backfiring way - she had all of the boys' attention.

Oh if only she could, she'd transform into Sailor Mars and burn these kids to ash, but no. Forget Luna and Artemis, Usagi would wail in her ear, making her deaf. So here she is, relying on her era-old Martian warrior instincts and some judo moves that she vaguely remembers learning from Makoto, fighting some gangster boys by one to six. 'Good thing I've so far had lucky shots with these losers, they're too cautious,' Rei thought. Yes, they were cautious. Too cautious that whatever trick they've tried to pull up was obvious even if Rei didn't use her sixth sense. As she gave another strong left hook to the first boy whom started the trouble in the first place, incoming sirens could be heard in the background. Having been kicked and punched in the stomach, the boy shouted at his gang to move out; though most of them were pretty much far away from the scene. Rei let out a breath she didn't know she was holding in and smiled at her right.

"Thanks for calling the co.."

She couldn't finish her sentence out of surprise when Ami just hugged her right there. Rei blushed and hugged her friend back. Normally, Ami wasn't this bold of showing her feelings - in this case, gratitude. Ami must've realized that herself, because she soon pulled back as quickly as she had pounced. She turned her crimson blushing face away from Rei and squeaked out a thank you. She also mumbled on how sorry she was for taking so long and how she actually considered transforming into Sailor Mercury and freeze the boys so that Rei could run away, too. Rei, of course, merely listened to her friend's cute rant and gave a lop-sided smile. She chuckled and hugged Ami. "Thanks, Ames. Now let's go home when the coast is clear," she said as she pulled away. Ami gave out a small laugh and agreed.

Neither had noticed someone in the shadows was watching.


End file.
